The kappa-correction is an easy-to-use method to correct for residual ionospheric errors in radio occultation (RO) data. It is a simple empirical model term that only depends on readily available data. While its basic utility was well proven in previous studies, including a recent predecessor study on RO climatologies under solar cycle variations, its performance for individual RO profile correction under diverse and extreme ionization conditions is unclear so far. Here we tackle this gap and focus on investigating (extremely) low and high solar activity and ionization conditions of individual RO events, including inspection of ionospheric symmetry between inbound and outbound raypaths. Using a global multi-year ensemble of MetOp-A and GRACE-A RO events over 2008-2015 as basis, we applied a sampling approach leading to six characteristic condition cases. https://www.selleckchem.com/ These cases also relate to day and night time variations and geographic variations from the equatorial to the high latitude region. We inspected the kappa-correction and its performance relative to the standard bending angle correction for RO-retrieved stratospheric profiles and found mean deviations in temperature of near -0.3 K in the upper stratosphere (40-45 km) for high ionization conditions, with extreme deviations exceeding -2 K for strong inbound/outbound asymmetry. The kappa-correction term itself reaches a mean value near 0.05 μrad under these high conditions. Low solar activity and ionization conditions lead to a mean correction smaller than 0.005 μrad and mean temperature deviations smaller than 0.02 K. An intercomparison to other quality datasets, predominantly showed a decrease in mean temperature difference when applying the kappa-correction.Because cross-polarized radar returns are highly associated with volume scatter, radar polarimetry returns tend to show strong evidence of wildfire scars and recovery in forest and chaparral. We focus on the polarimetry images from UAVSAR (PolSAR) line SanAnd_08525, which covers a roughly 20 km wide swath over the Transverse Range including parts of the Santa Monica, San Gabriel and San Bernardino Mountains. We select images from four acquisition dates from October 2009 to September 2020, very roughly 4 years apart. These are compared to fire perimeters from the national Geospatial Multi-Agency Coordination and NIFC databases for years 2003-2020, which shows the areas affected by the major fires (west to east) Springs2013, Woolsey2018, Topanga2005, LaTuna2017, Station2009, BlueCut2016, Pilot2016, Slide2007, Butler2007, and many smaller fires. PolSAR images are shown to be helpful in identifying types and boundaries of fire, 50-meter scale details of vegetation loss, and variability of vegetation recovery in post-fire years.Sea surface temperature (SST) is an essential climate variable, that is directly used in climate monitoring. Although satellite measurements can offer continuous global coverage, obtaining a long-term homogeneous satellite-derived SST data set suitable for climate studies based on a single instrument is still a challenge. In this work, we assess a homogeneous SST data set derived from reprocessed Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer (IASI) level-1 (L1C) radiance data. The SST is computed using Planck's Law and simple atmospheric corrections. We assess the data set using the ERA5 reanalysis and the EUMETSAT-released IASI level-2 SST product. Over the entire period, the reprocessed IASI SST shows a mean global difference with ERA5 close to zero, a mean absolute bias under 0.5°C, with a SD of difference around 0.3°C and a correlation coefficient over 0.99. In addition, the reprocessed data set shows a stable bias and SD, which is an advantage for climate studies. The interannual variability and trends were compared with other SST data sets ERA5, Hadley Centre's SST (HadISST), and NOAA's Optimal Interpolation SST Analysis (OISSTv2). We found that the reprocessed SST data set is able to capture the patterns of interannual variability well, showing the same areas of high interannual variability (&gt;1.5°C), including over the tropical Pacific in January corresponding to the El Niño Southern Oscillation. Although the period studied is relatively short, we demonstrate that the IASI data set reproduces the same trend patterns found in the other data sets (i.e., cooling trend in the North Atlantic, warming trend over the Mediterranean).The Advanced Topographic Laser Altimetry System (ATLAS) is the sole instrument on the Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite 2 (ICESat-2). Without some method of reducing the transmitted data, the volume of ATLAS telemetry would far exceed the normal X-band downlink capability or require many more ground station contacts. The ATLAS Onboard Flight Science Receiver Algorithms (hereinafter Receiver Algorithms or Algorithms) control the amount of science data that is telemetered from the instrument, limiting the data volume by distinguishing surface echoes from background noise, and allowing the instrument to telemeter data from only a small vertical region about the signal. This is accomplished through the transfer of the spacecraft's location and attitude to the instrument every second, use of an onboard Digital Elevation Model, implementation of signal processing techniques, and use of onboard relief and surface type reference maps. Extensive ground testing verified the performance of the Algorithms. On-orbit analysis shows that the Algorithms are working as expected from the ground testing; they are performing well and meeting the mission requirements.Purpose In-hospital three-dimensional (3D) printing of patient-specific pathologies is increasingly being used in daily care. However, the efficiency of the current conversion from image to print is often obstructed due to limitations associated with segmentation software. Therefore, there is a need for comparison of several clinically available tools. A comparative study has been conducted to compare segmentation performance of Philips IntelliSpace Portal® (PISP), Mimics Innovation Suite (MIS), and DICOM to PRINT® (D2P). Approach These tools were compared with respect to segmentation time and 3D mesh quality. The dataset consisted of three computed tomography (CT)-scans of acetabular fractures (ACs), three CT-scans of tibia plateau fractures (TPs), and three CTA-scans of abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAAs). Independent-samples t -tests were performed to compare the measured segmentation times. Furthermore, 3D mesh quality was assessed and compared according to representativeness and usability for the surgeon. Results Statistically significant differences in segmentation time were found between PISP and MIS with respect to the segmentation of ACs ( p = less then 0.